A STUDY ON DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL ADOPTED BY THE TIMES OF INDIA TO ITS EXISTING CUSTOMERS

AT

CHENNAI

SUBMITTED TO

TRIPURA

The Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts of India

University, Tripura.

In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of Degree of

MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

SUBMITTED BY

THOMAS K JOSEPH

MAGNUS SCHOOL OF BUSINESS

Department of Management Studies,

140, Marshalls Road, Egmore,

CHENNAI.

TRIPURA

ICFAI UNIVERSITY

TRIPURA

MAGNUS SCHOOL OF BUSINESS

CHENNAI.

CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that MR .THOMAS K JOSEPH, student of MBA has

prepared this project report titled “A STUDY ON DISTRIBUTION

CHANNEL ADOPTED BY THE TIMES OF INDIATO ITS EXISTING

CUSTOMERS.” a study at THE TIMES OF INDIA, CHENNAI. This is a

bonafide work in partial fulfillment of the requirement of MBA degree

examination for 2008-2010.

Prof. S. V. Ganeshan PGDM.

Academic Head

TRIPURA

ICFAI UNIVERSITY

TRIPURA

MAGNUS SCHOOL OF BUSINESS

CHENNAI.

CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that this is a bonafide work done by

MR.THOMAS K JOSEPH in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the

award of degree of MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION in

MAGNUS SCHOOL OF BUSINESS, CHENNAI. The title of the project is

A STUDY ON DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL ADOPTED BY THE TIMES

OF INDIATO ITS EXISTING CUSTOMERS, at THE TIMES OF INDIA.,

Chennai.

External Examiner Internal Examiner

TRIPURA

ICFAI UNIVERSITY

TRIPURA

MAGNUS SCHOOL OF BUSINESS

CHENNAI.

GUIDANCE CERTIFICATE

The project report entitled “A STUDY ON DISTRIBUTION

CHANNEL ADOPTED BY THE TIMES OF INDIATO ITS EXISTING

CUSTOMERS,” was done by MR.THOMAS K JOSEPH under my

guidance. The report is submitted to the ICFAI UNIVERSITY in partial

fulfillment of the requirements of MBA degree examination of 2008-2010.

Prof. P.V. HARIHARAN, MSc, PGDBA (I.I.M-A)

GUIDE

DECLARATION

I, THOMAS K JOSEPH, declare that the project entitled A STUDY ON

DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL ADOPTED BY THE TIMES OF INDIATO ITS

EXISTING CUSTOMERS., done during the period from APRIL 20th,2009 to

JULY 20th ,2009 , is my own effort and work.

This project is done in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the

award of the degree of MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINSTRATION by

ICFAI UNIVERSITY, TRIPURA.

Date :

Place : Signature.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to express my gratitude to Prof. S. V. Ganeshan, PGDM.,

Academic Head of Magnus School of Business, Chennai, for providing me an

opportunity to undertake this project work, thus making way for enhancing my

knowledge about the project.

I sincerely like to thank Prof. P.V.Hariharan, M.M.S., Professor, Magnus

School of Business, Chennai and Mr. Vijay Basker - RMD, of “ TIMES OF

INDIA”., for their valuable guidance to bring out the project report successfully.

I wish to extend my thanks to Mr. Sunil, Manager-Corporate Relations

Group And Prof. P.V Hariharan, MSB CHENNAI and Ms. Vijay

Basker(RMD),of TIMES OF INDIA,. It gives me a great pleasure to dedicate

this project to my parents.

Date:

Place : Signature.

Contents

ACKNOWLEDGMENT:............................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION.....................................................................................................................................9

ABOUT THE INDUSTRY:......................................................................................................................9

THE NATURE OF AUDIENCE.........................................................................................................10

HISTORICAL TRADITIONS.............................................................................................................11

GROWTH IN PRINT INDUSTRY:.....................................................................................................12

DEFINITION AND FEATURES OF NEWSPAPER..............................................................................13

TYPES OF NEWSPAPER:................................................................................................................14

Daily.............................................................................................................................................14

Weekly.........................................................................................................................................14

National.......................................................................................................................................15

International.................................................................................................................................15

Zoned and other editions.................................................................................................................16

CIRCULATION AND READERSHIP..................................................................................................16

ADVERTISING...............................................................................................................................17

ABOUT THE COMPANY:...................................................................................................................18

MAJOR ACHIEVEMENTS OF BCCL:................................................................................................20

ABOUT THE TIMES OF INDIA:...........................................................................................................24

OTHER PRODUCTS OFFERD BY THE GROUP:................................................................................25

THE TIMES OF INDIA IN CHENNAI:...............................................................................................26

PRICING STRATEGIES USED BY TIMES OF INDIA (Chennai edition)..............................................27

PROMOTION OF TIMES OF INDIA:...................................................................................................29

DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL.....................................................................................................................31

DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL - DEFINITION AND CONSIDERATIONS:.....................................................31

IMPORTANCE OF DISTRIBUTION CHANNELS................................................................................32

CHANNEL LEVELS:........................................................................................................................33

FUNCTIONS OF A DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL.................................................................................33

DISTRIBUTION DECISIONS:...........................................................................................................34

DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL ADOPTED BY THE TIMES OF INDIA..........................................................35

DESCRIPTION OF THE PROJECT............................................................................................................38

RENEWAL OF SUBSCRIPTIONS:........................................................................................................38

GETTING NEW SUBSCRIPTIONS:......................................................................................................39

METHODOLOGY:..............................................................................................................................40

Primary research:........................................................................................................................40

Secondary research:....................................................................................................................40

ANALYSIS OF THE SURVEY...................................................................................................................41

CLASSIFICATION OF READERS ON THE BASIS OF THEIR AGE GROUP:-.............................................44

CLASSIFICATION OF THE READERS ON THE BASIS OF THEIR OCCUPATION..................................45

CLASSIFICATION BASED ON ANNUAL INCOME............................................................................46

ATTRIBUTES WHICH THE CUSTOMER LAY EMPHASIS WHILE SELECTING A NEWSPAPER............48

LANGUAGE USED BY THE TIMES OF INDIA.......................................................................................49

OVERALL PRESENTATION OF THE TIMES OF INDIA..........................................................................50

EDITORIAL CONTENT OF THE TIMES OF INDIA.................................................................................51

OVERALL CONTENT OF THE TIMES OF INDIA...................................................................................52

THINGS WHICH CUSTOMERS LIKE IN TIMES OF INDIA.....................................................................53

LIMITATION:................................................................................................................................54

LEARNING EXPERIENCE....................................................................................................................54

CONCLUSION AND RECOMENDATION:............................................................................................54

ABSTRACT:

The newspaper sales involve distributing highly perishable products

under severe time constraints. This project deals with the study of the

distribution channel adopted by The Times of India (newspapers). Distribution

is an essential element in the newspaper industry as the life time of newspapers

are very short and thus a selection of proper channel and appropriate

intermediaries is very important.

The newspaper distributor has the rights to distribute the newspaper in

his area. The revenue of the newspaper distributor is based on a commission on

the sale of every newspaper. The circulation is normally through salesmen

appointed and salaried by the distributors, who in turn pass it on to hawkers.

This project also allows us to renew the subscriptions for the customer

and also allows us to book new subscriptions which give us an experience to

meet the customers and also to understand the customer satisfaction level and

also to get an effective feedback from the customer with the help of a market

survey.

Hawkers, vendors and book stall owners are the last link of the supply

chain before newspaper reaches readers. The hawkers' remuneration is also

normally based on the commission system and is generally the highest in the

entire supply chain.

A market survey is conducted with a sample population from the northern

part of Chennai and the results are categorized based on the various

demographic factors. The outcome of the survey is studied and based on which

a report is prepared and submitted to the company.

Responsiveness and efficiency play an important role in newspaper

distribution channel. Responsiveness includes supply chain's ability to respond

to wide a range of quantity demanded (due to demand fluctuations) and meet

short lead times. On the other hand efficiency is the cost of making and

delivering the newspaper to the readers.

INTRODUCTION

ABOUT THE INDUSTRY:

India is the world's largest democracy. Its mass media culture, a system

that has evolved over centuries, is comprised of a complex framework.

Modernization has transformed this into a communications network that

sustains the pulse of a democracy of about 1.1 billion people. India's newspaper

evolution is nearly unmatched in world press history. India's newspaper industry

and its Westernization—or modernisation as French would call it—go hand in

hand. India's press is a metaphor for its advancement in the globalized world.

James Augustus Hickey is considered as the "father of Indian press" as he

started the first Indian newspaper from Calcutta, the Calcutta General Advertise

or the Bengal Gazette in January, 1780. In 1789, the first newspaper from

Bombay, the Bombay €Herald appeared, followed by the Bombay Courier next

year (this newspaper was later amalgamated with the Times of India in 1861).

The first newspaper in an Indian language was the Samachar Darpan in

Bengali. The first issue of this daily was published from the Serampore Mission

Press on May 23, 1818. In the same year, Ganga Kishore Bhattacharya started

publishing another newspaper in Bengali, the Bengal Gazetti. On July 1, 1822

the first Gujarati newspaper the Bombay Samachar was published from

Bombay, which is still extant. The first Hindi newspaper, the Samachar Sudha

Varshan began in 1854. Since then, the prominent Indian languages in which

papers have grown over the years are Hindi, Marathi, Malayalam, Tamil,

Telugu, Urdu and Bengali.

The Indian language papers have taken over the English press as per the

latest NRS survey of newspapers. The main reasons being the marketing

strategy followed by the regional papers, beginning with Eenadu, a telegu daily

started by Ramoji Rao. The second reason being the growing literacy rate.

Increase in the literacy rate has direct positive effect on the rise of circulation of

the regional papers.

The people are first educated in their mother tongue as per their state in

which they live for e.g. students in Maharashtra are compulsory taught Marathi

language and hence they are educated in their state language and the first thing a

literate person does is read papers and gain knowledge and hence higher the

literacy rate in a state the sales of the dominating regional paper in that state

rises. The next reason being localisation of news.

Indian regional papers have several editions for a particular State for

complete localisation of news for the reader to connect with the paper. Malayala

Manorama has about 10 editions in Kerala itself and six others outside Kerala.

Thus regional papers aim at providing localised news for their readers. Even

Advertisers saw the huge potential of the regional paper market, partly due to

their own research and more due to the efforts of the regional papers to make

the advertisers aware of the huge market.

During the 1950s 214 daily newspapers were published in the country.

Out of these, 44 were English language dailies while the rest were published in

various regional languages. This number rose to 2,856 dailies in 1990 with 209

English dailies. The total number of newspapers published in the country

reached 35,595 newspapers by 1993 (3,805 dailies).

The main regional newspapers of India include the Malayalam language

Malayala Manorama (published from: Kerala, daily circulation: 673,000), the

Hindi-language Dainik Jagran (published from: Uttar Pradesh, daily circulation

in 2006: 580,000), and the Anandabazar Patrika (published from: Kolkata, daily

circulation in 2006: 435,000). The Times of India Group, the Indian Express

Group, the Hindustan Times Group, and the Anandabazar Patrika Group are the

main print media houses of the country.

Newspaper sale in the country increased by 11.22% in 2007. By 2007, 62

of the world's best selling newspaper dailies were published in China, Japan,

and India. India consumed 99 million newspaper copies as of 2007—making it

the second largest market in the world for newspapers.

THE NATURE OF AUDIENCE

While a majority of the poor working people in rural and urban areas still

remain oppressed and even illiterate, a significant proportion of people—

roughly about 52 percent of the population over 15 years of age were recorded

as being able to read and write. That breaks down to 65.5 percent of males and

an estimate of 37.7 percent of females.

After the liberalization of the economy, the growth of industry, and a rise

in literacy, the post-Emergency boom rekindled the world's largest middle class

in news, politics, and consumerism. Since private enterprise began to sustain

and pay off, mass communications picked up as a growth industry.

Newspapers did not expand simply because the technology was available

to make Indian scripts live as they had not been able to live before. Nor did

newspaper grow simply because more people knew how to read and write.

They grew because entrepreneurs detected a growing hunger for

information among ever-widening sections of India's people, who were potential

consumers as well as newspaper readers. A race began to reach this audience

advertising avenues were the prizes and these would come largely to

newspapers that could convince advertisers that they had more readers than

their rivals. Readers, meanwhile, were saying implicitly: 'We will read

newspapers that tell us about ourselves and reflect our concerns.

HISTORICAL TRADITIONS

Newspaper history in India is inextricably tangled with political history.

James Augustus Hicky was the founder of India's first newspaper, the Calcutta

General Advertiser also known as Hicky's Bengal Gazette, in 1780. Soon other

newspapers came into existence in Calcutta and Madras: the Calcutta Gazette,

the Bengal Journal, the Oriental Magazine, the Madras Courier and the Indian

Gazette. While the India Gazette enjoyed governmental patronage including

free postal circulation and advertisements, Hicky's Bengal Gazette earned the

rulers' wrath due to its criticism of the government.

In November 1780 its circulation was halted by government decree.

Hicky protested against this arbitrary harassment without avail, and was

imprisoned. The Bengal Gazette and the India Gazette were followed by the

Calcutta Gazette which subsequently became the government's "medium for

making its general orders".

The Bombay Herald, The Statesmen in Calcutta and the Madras Mail and

The Hindu, along with many other rivals in Madras represented the

metropolitan voice of India and its people. While Statesman voiced the English

rulers' voice, The Hindu became the beacon of patriotism in the South. The

Hindu was founded in Madras as a counter to the Madras Mail.

Patriotic movements grew in proportion with the colonial ruthlessness,

and a vehicle of information dissemination became a tool for freedom struggle.

In the struggle for freedom, journalists in the twentieth century performed a

dual role as professionals and nationalists.

Indeed many national leaders, from Gandhi to Vajpayee, were journalists

as well. Calcutta, Madras, Bombay and Delhi were four main centers of urban

renaissance which nourished news in India. It was only during and after the

seventies, especially after Indira Gandhi's defeat in 1977, that regional language

newspapers became prevalent.

There were nationalist echoes from other linguistic regional provinces.

Bengal, Gujarat, Tamil, Karalla, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh produced dailies in

regional languages. Hindi and Urdu were largely instrumental in voicing the

viewpoints and aspirations of both Hindus and Muslims of the Northern

provinces.

As communalism and religious intolerance increased before and after

partition, Urdu remained primarily the language of Muslims, as Pakistan chose

this language as its lingua franca. After partition, the cause of Urdu and its

newspapers, suffered a setback as Hindu reactionaries began to recognize the

association of Urdu with Islam and Pakistan.

The first edition appears on November 3, 1838 known as "The Bombay Times

and Journal of

Commerce".later to be known as “The Times of India”.

The first edition appears on November 3, 1838 known as "The Bombay Times

and Journal of

Commerce". The issue is published twice a week. Dr. J.E. Brennan

the first editor also Secretary of the Chamber of Commerce. Rs 30/- is

the annual subscription.

1846

The newspaper experiences

proprietary changes and Dr.

George Brit appointed editor.

1850

Shareholders decide to increase the

share capital and the paper

converted into a daily

1861

Editor Robert Knight amalgamates The Bombay Times, Bombay

Standard and

Bombay Telegraph & Courier to form 'The Times of India' and gives it a

national character.

1880

The Times of India Weekly edition

launched.The

Times of India weekly edition

launched, to meet the

need for a weekend paper. This later

came to be

known as the Illustrated Weekly of

India in 1923.

The Times of India Weekly edition launched in 1880.

1890 Editor Henry Curwen buys TOI in partnership with Charles Kane.

1892

Following the death of Henry Curwen, T. J. Bennett becomes the editor

and enters into a partnership with F.M. Coleman to form a joint stock

company - Bennett, Colemen & Co. Ltd. (BCCL).

1902

The paper moves in to its current office opposite CST. It started out at

the Parsi Bazar and then moved on to Churchgate where things got

so bad that editor Bennett had to complete his editorial elsewhere

after the ceiling fan collapsed in his room.

1907

Editor Stanley Reed revolutionises news production by extending the deadline to

midnight. Until then any news that came in after 5pm was held over for the next day.

TOI's first price war under editor Stanley Reed: price cut from 4 annas to 1 anna;

circulation rises 5 times.

1923

Evening News of India launched

1929

The Times Of India Illustrated Weekly renamedThe Illustrated

Weekly Of India

1930

The Column "Bombay 100 Years ago" published

1930

The Column "Bombay 100 Years ago" published First movie review published

1940

First time news items appeared on the front page

1946

For the first time the paper transfers to Indian ownership. Seth Ramakrishna Dalmia

buys out Bennett, Coleman & Co.Ltd. for Rs. 2 crores.

1948

1950

Navbharat Times launched

The TOI Crest changes from the

lions to elephants

Dharmayug, Hindi weekly

pictorial magazine launched

Frank Moraes succeeded Ivor Jehu to become the first Indian editor (1950-57) R K

Laxman’s common man cartoon starts.

1952

Filmfare- first film magazine in English launched

1959

Femina- first women’s magazine in English launched

1961

The Economic Times launched

1962

Maharashtra Times launched

1965

Femina Miss India contest started.

1987

Printing of The Times of India from Kandivili

Press

1988

in Mumbai.

1994

Times of India completes 150 years.

Special stamp released by P &

1991

BBC features Times of India among

world's six great newspapers

1996

Bombay Times, the sassy colour supplement that

chronicles the changing lifestyle mores of a

globalising city is launched.

Times of India carry its first colour photograph. Times of India crosses 1 million

mark

in circulation.

1998

BCCL enters into music market with Times Music.

1999

Indiatimes.com launched

1999

BCCL enters music retailing business with Planet M and radio broadcasting business with

Radio Mirchi

2000

TOI crosses the 2 million mark in circulation.

2001

TOI goes all color and storms Delhi by being

"Number One"

2003

President APJ Abdul Kalam visits TOI to

inaugurate Times Foundation

2004

Television business launched with the launch of a lifestyle and

entertainment channel called ZOOME Paper launched Timescape

The Times Group Intranet launched. Launch of the

jobs portal Times Jobs

http://www.timesjobs.com.

TimesJobs.com pioneered the concept of job fairs in India, branded as

‘Big Leap’.

2005

MT – Largest read Marathi Newspaper in Mumbai – IRS survey

TOI – Goes daily full colour

Mumbai Mirror launched

TimesMatri.com - Launched in August - re-launched as

SimplyMarry.com in December 2006.

2006

TIMES NOW – TV News Channel launched

ET – first newspaper available on cell phone

Mumbai Mirror – Afternoon edition launched

Offers Mumbai Mirror or Maharashtra Times as complimentary

copy with TOI at a price of Rs.4/- TOI – The only English

language daily to feature among the top 10 with a readership of 131.4

lakhs- IRS Survey by Hansa ResearchTimes Group MD, Mr Vineet

Jain awarded the scroll of honour for being the new age media guru - Hero Honda Indian

TV

Academy AwardsTimescape the Times Group Intranet

portal re-launched - now powered by SAP Netweaver

BCCL goes live on SAP systemMagicBricks.com –

launched in October 2006 targets the Online Real Estate Space Smart Hire – launched April

2006, is witnessing stupendous growth with its focus on providing organisations with end-

to-

end recruitment solutions. Ads2Book.com – The World’s Only Global Ad Booking Engine

-

Relaunched in August 2006With intensive R&D, the Net-2-Print classifieds booking

system

Ads2Book.com was created and imbued with AI (artificial intelligence) that assisted users

through the entire process of Creating, Booking & Paying for their Print Classified Ads, all

from the comfort of their desktop.

2007

TOI – the Indian Corporate Elite’s No. 1 newspaper - A CNielsen Report

What’s Hot- a new weekly magazine delivered free with TOI on every Friday

Times Group bags 5 gold and 1 silver at the ABBY Awards

TOI prints 2 city editions., one at 11pm and second 12.30 am

BCCL wins SAP ACE 2007 Awards for Customer Excellence in the best media

sector

implementation The Economic Times- Gujarati Edition launched

Good Life World - launched April 2007is the future of Internet in India, the concept

of ‘Click & Brick’ is just the right impetus the Online Industry needs, as users are either

to busy to log on to the net for their personal needs or are not savvy enough and need

help. The Good Life World Centre allows users to access the services offered by Times

Business Solutions’ portals from the Centre and make offline payments for online

services, thus ensuring ease of access and complete financial security.

GROWTH IN PRINT INDUSTRY:

Over the years, the printing industry has grown in all parts of the globe. The advent of TV

and Internet has not affected the growth of and requirement for printing professionals. The

industry has made giant strides in recent times in improving its machinery in terms of the scope,

technology and speed. Computers and electronics have invaded all the departments of printing,

improving quality and speed of the jobs executed with the consequent enhancement of costs

enormously. In fact, the arrival of computers has complemented the printing business and has

played a vital role in increasing its status as a clean profession. There is a set of industry players

which are growing systematically and regularly. These kinds of set-ups do not belong to any

specific region of India but are scattered all over the country. The so-called clusters of printing

Industry are present in North: (Amritsar, Delhi, Faridabad) - West: (Ahmadabad,

Bombay,) – South: (Bangalore, Coimbatore, Madras).

The publishing firms in the private sector are also quite large in number and these are

scattered throughout the country. But majority of these are very small in operation and each one of

these may not be producing more than a dozen titles in a year. These are also confined to

producing titles in Indian regional languages and catering to the needs of the local markets. Only a

few (about 10%) of the publishing concerns in India are reasonably large producing more than 50

titles annually and are equipped with proper infrastructures such as printing presses and

distribution networks. In totality, today Indian publishing is one of the greatest in the world and

the country is counted among the top seven publishing nations.

Increasing number of printers are adopting newer and modern technologies. The growth of such

organisations indicates that recession is nothing but a changing trend towards adoption of new

style of working. The modern style of business is completely in favour of the consumers. It

ensures that they get optimum quality products at bare minimum price. Probably in all areas of life

the consumers are getting products at most competitive prices, which is definitely lower than

yesterday’s prices and printing industry is no exception. To meet this challenge, people in the

printing industry have to find the solutions and not fret on decline in prices. Some printers with a

vision have already taken a step towards it and are able to produce printed products at much lower

unit price by adopting new technologies.

Facts about Indian Printing Industry :

- More than 1,30,000 all types of printing presses in India

- More than 10 Million family involved in the Industry

- 20 Billion + Turnover

- Per capita consumption of Paper & boards - 4.5 KGs

- Machinery New and Second Hand, used is predominately from China, England, France.

Germany, Italy, Japan, The Netherland, Switzerland, Spain, Taiwan, USA.

DEFINITION AND FEATURES OF NEWSPAPER

A newspaper is a written publication containing news, information and advertising, usually

printed on low cost paper called newsprint. General interest newspapers often feature articles on

political events, crime, business, art / entertainment, society and sports. Most traditional papers

also feature an editorial page containing columns which express the personal opinions of writers,

supplementary section may contain advertising, comics, coupons and other printed media,

Newspapers are most often published on a daily or weekly basic and they usually focus on one

particular geographic area where most of their readers live. Despite recent setbacks in circulation

and profits are still the most iconic outlet for news and other types of written journalism

.Features a newspaper may include are:

Local and international news

Weather news and forecasts

Editorial

Business news

A sports column

Reviews on movies, plays, restaurants, etc.

Health news

Automobile news

Classified ads, etc.

TYPES OF NEWSPAPER:

While most newspapers are aimed at a broad spectrum of readers, usually geographically

defined, some focus on groups of readers defined more by their interests than their location: for

example, there are daily and weekly business newspapers and sports newspapers. More specialist

still are some weekly newspapers, usually free and distributed within limited areas; these may

serve communities as specific as certain immigrant populations, or the local gay community.

Daily

A daily newspaper is issued every day, sometimes with the exception of Sundays and some

national holidays. Saturday and Sunday editions of daily newspapers tend to be larger, include

more specialized sections and advertising inserts, and cost more. Typically, the majority of these

newspapers’ staff work Monday to Friday, so the Sunday and Monday editions largely depend on

content done in advance or content that is syndicated. Most daily newspapers are published in the

morning. Afternoon or evening papers are aimed more at commuters and office workers.

Weekly

Weekly newspapers are common and tend to be smaller than daily papers. In some cases,

there also are newspapers that are published twice or three times a week, these newspapers are

generally still classified as weeklies.

National

Most nations have at least one newspaper that circulates throughout the whole country: a

national newspaper, as contrasted with a local newspaper serving a city or region. In India, there

are numerous national newspapers, including The Times of India, The Hindu, Deccan chronicle,

Hindustan times, The new Indian Express, etc. Large metropolitan newspapers have expanded

distribution networks and, with this effort they try to expand themselves and become nationalized.

International

There is also a small group of newspapers which may be characterised as international

newspapers. Some, such as Christian Science Monitor and The International Herald Tribune, have

always had that focus, while others are repackaged national newspapers or “international editions”

of national-scale or large metropolitan newspapers. Often these international editions are scaled

down to remove articles that might not interest the wider range of readers.

As English has become the international language of business and technology, many

newspapers formerly published only in non-English languages have also developed English-

language editions. In places as varied as Jerusalem and Bombay (Mumbai), newspapers are printed

to a local and international English-speaking public. The advent of the Internet has also allowed

the non-English newspapers to put out a scaled-down English version to give their newspaper a

global outreach.

Online newspaper (e-paper)

With the advancement of technology, the Internet is gaining more and more popularity

every day, the newspaper industries have identified their prospects in this sector and started

publishing their news articles in the form of e-papers, which allows the users to read the news

online. The e-papers are given at free of cost by some sites and some sites charge their customers

for the news, thus the e-paper has gained a large amount of popularity in the recent times.

Some newspapers provide some or all of their content on the Internet, either at no cost or for

a fee. In some cases, free access is available only for a matter of days or weeks, after which

readers must register and provide personal data. In other cases, free archives are provided.

Employment

There are special employment newspapers, which carry information about the opportunities

available in the corporate and other companies, these are generally weekly magazines which are

published once a week. There are also daily classifieds which also provides ads and employment

information daily.

Zoned and other editions

Newspapers often refine distribution of ads and news through zoning and editioning. Zoning

occurs when advertising and editorial content change to reflect the location to which the product is

delivered. The editorial content often may change merely to reflect changes in advertising — the

quantity and layout of which affects the space available for editorial — or may contain region-

specific news. In rare instances, the advertising may not change from one zone to another, but

there will be different region-specific editorial content. As the content can vary widely, zoned

editions are often produced in parallel.

Editioning occurs in the main sections as news is updated throughout the night. The

advertising is usually the same in each edition (with the exception of zoned regionals, in which it

is often the ‘B’ section of local news that undergoes advertising changes). As each edition

represents the latest news available for the next press run, these editions are produced linearly,

with one completed edition being copied and updated for the next edition. The previous edition is

always copied to maintain a Newspaper of Record and to fall back on if a quick correction is

needed for the press.

CIRCULATION AND READERSHIP

The number of copies distributed, either on an average day or on particular days (typically

Sunday), is called the newspaper’s circulation and is one of the principal factors used to set

advertising rates. Circulation is not necessarily the same as copies sold, since some copies or

newspapers are distributed without cost. Readership figures may be higher than circulation figures

because many copies are read by more than one person, although this is offset by the number of

copies distributed but not read (especially for those distributed free).

According to the Guinness Book of Records, the daily circulation of the Soviet newspaper

Trud exceeded 21,500,000 in 1990, while the Soviet weekly Argumenty I Fakty boasted the

circulation of 33,500,000 in 1991.

In India, The Times of India is the largest English newspaper, with 2.14 million copies

daily. According to the 2006 National Readership Study, the Dainik Jagran is the most-read, local-

language (Hindi) newspaper, with 21.2 million readers. A common measure of a newspaper’s

health is market penetration, expressed as a percentage of households that receive a copy of the

newspaper against the total number of households in the paper’s market area.

ADVERTISING

The bulk of newspapers' revenue comes from advertising - the contribution from sales is

small by comparison. On average, a newspaper generates 80% of its revenue from advertising and

20% from sales. The portion of the newspaper that is not advertising is called editorial content,

editorial matter, or simply editorial, although the last term is also used to refer specifically to those

articles in which the newspaper and its guest writers express their opinions.

Newspapers have been hurt by the decline of many traditional advertisers. Department

stores and supermarkets could be relied upon in the past to buy pages of newspaper

advertisements, but due to industry consolidation are much less likely to do so now. Additionally,

newspapers are seeing traditional advertisers shift to new media platforms. The classified category

is shifting to sites including craigslist, employment websites, and auto sites. National advertisers

are shifting to many types of digital content including websites, rich media platforms, and mobile.

In recent years, the advertorial emerged. Advertorials are most commonly recognized as an

opposite-editorial which third-parties pay a fee to have included in the paper. Advertorials

commonly advertise new products or techniques, such as a new design for golf equipment, a new

form of laser surgery, or weight-loss drugs. The tone is usually closer to that of a press release than

of an objective news story.

ABOUT THE COMPANY:The Times of India is the leading daily English newspaper in India. It is owned and

managed by Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. which is owned in turn by the Sahu Jain family.

Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. provides media publishing services. The company offers

newspapers, magazines, Internet, and electronic commerce information publication services. Its

brands include The Economic Times, Times of India, Femina, Times FM, Filmfare, etc.

Additionally, it provides radio and television programs production and distribution, Web portals

operation, and mobile value added services. Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. was founded in 1838

and is based in Mumbai, India.

In the 19th century this newspaper company employed more than 800 people and had a

sizable circulation in India and Europe. Originally British-owned and controlled, its last British

editor was Ivor S. Jehu, who resigned the editorship in 1950. It was after India's Independence that

the ownership of the paper passed on to the then famous industrial family of Dalmiyas and later it

was taken over by Sahu Shanti Prasad Jain of the Sahu Jain group from Bijnore, UP.

The Times of India is the largest selling daily newspaper in the world. It sells more than 2.5

million newspapers everyday and thus it was certified by the Audit Bureau of Circulations as the

world's largest selling English broadsheet newspaper. The Times of India is published by the

media group Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. This company, along with its other group companies,

known as The Times Group.

The Times Group is the largest media services in India. It reaches out from:

11 publishing centres

15 printing centres

55 sales offices

Over 7000 employees

5 dailies including two of the largest in the country with approx 4.3 million copies

circulated daily

2 lead magazines

29 niche magazines

Reaching 2468 cities and towns

32 Radio Stations

Its major brands include:

 The Times of India, India’s largest English daily.

The Economic Times, India’s largest financial daily, and the world’s second largest after

The Wall Street Journal.

Maharashtra Times, India’s largest Marathi daily and Maharashtra’s No.1 Newspaper.

Navbharat Times, the largest Hindi Daily in Delhi and Bombay.

Mumbai Mirror India’s largest circulated compact newspaper.

Pune Mirror.

 Bangalore Mirror, Bangalore’s first morning compact daily.

The Times of India - Kannada.

Times Group’s subsidiary companies include:

  Times Infotainment Media Limited (TIML) & Entertainment Network India Limited

(ENIL) that together control:

Radio Mirchi - National network of Private FM stations.

360 Degrees - Event Management.

Times Outoors - Outdoor Advertising & Billboard Marketing.

Mirchi Movies Limited - Movie production, Entertainment.

Times Internet Limited (TIL), which has:

Indiatimes portal

Times of Money - an online payments portal specializing in remitting money to India and

other parts of the world.

Times Global Broadcasting Limited - This was a Joint Venture with Reuters untill Reuters

exited. The company heads:

Times Now - A News Channel

ZOOm - A Lifestyle Channel

A new business channel which is the broadcast version of Economic Times is planned to be

launched early in 2009.

Times Business Solutions controls:

TBSL - corporate website of TBSL.

Times Jobs - A jobs portal.

SimplyMarry - A matrimonial portal. (earlier known as TimesMatri).

Magic Bricks - A real estate portal.

Yolist - Free classifieds portal.

Ads2Book - Online classifieds booking system for print publications.

World Wide Media - A magazine joint venture between BCCL and BBC magazines. WWM

heads:

Filmfare

Filmfare Awards

Femina

Femina Miss India A Beauty Paegent

Top Gear India

Hello

BBC Good Homes

TIML Golden Square Limited which purchased Virgin Radio (soon to be called Absolute Radio)

in the United Kingdom. This company is a direct subsidiary of BCCL (not through TIML or

ENIL).

ABOUT THE TIMES OF INDIA:

The Times of India is one of the oldest English daily newspaper in India. The Times of

India was founded on November 3, 1838 as ‘The Bombay Times and Journal of Commerce’. It

adopted its present name in 1861. The Bombay Times and Journal of Commerce was launched as

a bi-weekly edition. It contained news from Europe, the Americas, and the Subcontinent, and was

conveyed between India and Europe via regular steamships. The daily editions of the paper were

started from 1850 and by 1861, the Bombay Times was renamed The Times of India.

Today The Times of India is the largest selling daily newspaper in the world and it is selling

over 2.5 million papers every day. The times of India comes out with various supplements, which

are mentioned below.

Chennai times : This is a city specific daily supplement which tells about the happening

within the city,

Educational Times: This is a weekly supplement which brings in educational news,

career opportunities, counseling, etc..

Times Wellness: This is a weekly supplement which gives health tips to the readers.

Times Ascent: This is a weekly supplement which tells about the job opportunities in

various corporate.

Times Life: This is also a weekly supplement which deals about fashion, lifestyle, etc.

Times Classified: This is a weekend supplement which carries advertisements about

various products.

The Times of India is printed from the following places (in alphabetical order):

Ahmadabad

Bhubaneswar

Bangalore

Chandigarh

Chennai

Delhi

Goa

Hyderabad

Jaipur

Kanpur

Kolkata

Lucknow

Mangalore

Mumbai

Mysore

Nagpur

Patna

Pune

Ranchi

Surat

OTHER PRODUCTS OFFERD BY THE GROUP:

THE ECONOMIC TIMES – Daily business newspaper, world’s 2nd largest selling

financial daily.

FILMFARE – India’s No.1 entertainment magazine, which is issued fortnightly. This

magazine covers news about the film industry and exclusive interviews with various

stars.

FEMINA – India’s No.1 women’s magazine, which talks about the things that matter

a lot to a women like lifestyle, fashion, travel, food, entertainment, etc.

HELLO – Worlds most loved celebrity magazine, which brings in exclusive news

about corporate giants closed door parties, etc..

TOP GEAR – Automotive and lifestyle magazine.

GRAZIA – Europe’s No.1 style magazine, deals with latest fashions and trends.

THE ECONOMIST – weekly finance news magazine focusing on international

politics, business news and opinions.

GOOD HOMES – BBC Goodhomes is a unique blend of design, creativity and

substances. It talks about interior designing, shopping options, etc.

“Mission of “TIMES OF INDIA”:

“The Times of India Group is the aggregator of content in any

form in

the infotainment Industry. We collect & sell content to right

target

Audience”.

The Mantra

“YOU ARE EMPOWERED “

Businesses are in:

Publications, Finance, Music, Retailing, Media, Radio, Internet

products, Events, Charitable Trusts, Education.

THE TIMES OF INDIA IN CHENNAI:

The Times of India after establishing its firm boundaries in various parts

of India, it decided to make its presence in Chennai. Times of India sighted the

opportunities available in Chennai as there were not many players in this

industry. The major players in the general English daily category were The

Hindu, The new Indian Express and Deccan Chronicle. So Times of India had

enough opportunities to enter the market and make itself a market leader. In

order to do so, times of India went on to understand the situation in Chennai

before is launch.

In the process times of India identified that many people have used the

same expressions to describe both the daily and the city: orthodox, old-

fashioned and conservative. However, Chennai has changed in the past two

decades. In the 1990s, it emerged as a preferred car-making destination in the

country and Hyundai Motor India Ltd and Ford India Pvt. Ltd have factories

near the city. The Nissan-Renault  combine will also soon have a factory near

Chennai. In the 2000s, it emerged a favourite with software firms and several of

them have, or are building, their largest development centres in Siruseri, which

is in the outskirts of Chennai.

Times of India understood that the trend is changing in Chennai and thus it

wanted to make its presence felt strong in the minds of people. The company

came up with more than 100s of billboards around the city with the message

“next change” and the word was surrounded by newspaper bits on all the sides,

which gave a clue to the viewers that the new newspaper is going to come with

some new change.This campaign made people guessing what is the paper which

is going to come and what is the change its going to make.

The times of India had to plan its launch perfectly as the other

competitors are pretty strong in the market. The Hindu is one of the oldest news

papers in Chennai and it has an overall circulation of 1,330,518 in India and out

of which Chennai alone contributes 280,473. Majority of the population in

Chennai are The Hindu readers as it is one of the oldest newspapers in the

country. The new Indian Express is another paper in Chennai which is also there

in Chennai for quite a long times. Figures for The New Indian Express are still

under consideration. However, during January-June, it had a total circulation of

278,243 copies, of which Chennai had 39,428.Deccan Chronicle which has

made its presence in Chennai just

about a year before the time of India

planned its launch, Deccan Chronicle

came up with a aggressive pricing

strategy and gave the newspapers at

Rs. 1 during the initial days of its

launch.

After analysing all these factors

into account, times of India decided to

make its presence in Chennai on 14th

April 2008, the day on which the Tamil

New year is celebrated. The times of

India launched with the campaign “next change” and if we ask did times of

India bring in any change? The answer is yes. The language used by the times

of India flavoured the local language, which brought in mixed reaction between

the readers, as lot of people in Chennai were used to traditional language used

by The Hindu. The younger generation preferred the language used by them and

thus the times of India gained lot of popularity.

PRICING STRATEGIES USED BY TIMES OF INDIA (Chennai edition)

Pricing is one of the key elements of times of India, The times of India

have analysed their competitors pricing strategies and have come out with a

pricing which stand as a competitive advantage for The Times of India. Initially

when the times of India was launched in Chennai they came out with a pricing

of Rs. 1 on weekdays and Rs. 2 on Sunday. They also introduced 2 different

subscription packages along with free gifts for the first time in Chennai for a

daily English newspaper. The packages were 6 months package and 1 year

package, the offers for the 6 months package was Rs. 175 + a free gift (Vacuum

flask) and the 1 year package was at Rs. 299 + a free gift (vacuum flask or a

Travel Bag).

The times of India used the concept of promotional pricing, the main aim of the

company is maximize their market share, make the people use their product for

a certain period of time and then make them their customers brand loyal and

stick with the product. The pricing strategy used made the competitors in the

market fear about their market share and thus as a result of which they had to

reduce their prices. The Hindu which was selling at Rs.4.50 reduced their price

to Rs.3.50 and then further reduced it to Rs. 2.50 on weekdays; the important

thing to be noted is that The Hindu didn’t change its price when Deccan

Chronicle was selling at Rs.1.

In the process of promotional pricing, the times of India has to undergo certain

losses till they time they establish a firm position for them self in the market.

The company need to spend money for the employees, the intermediaries in the

process, for the paper, machines etc. The company after completing its first year

came up with a revised plan for their customers, the cost of the 1 year is at Rs.

299 without any gift and the 6 months subscription plan has been cancelled

completely. The daily price of the paper was also revised from Rs.1 to Rs. 2 on

weekdays and the Sunday paper price has been revised from Rs.2 to Rs.3.

The cost also includes the cost which they have to pay to the vendors and dealers as commission,

which is shown in the table below.

Price Last year ( in Rs.) Current year (in Rs.)

Subscription amount per yr 299 299

Gift worth 150 -

Vendor commission per year 360 360

Dealer commission per year 60 60

Booking commission per order 80 80

Rathi 292 292

Total Loss per subscription - 643 - 493

The major source of income comes from the advertisements which are

published in the newspaper, with this subscription scheme the company have a

know number of customers in their bags.

PROMOTION OF TIMES OF INDIA:Promotion involves disseminating information about a product, product

line, brand, or company. It is one of the four key aspects of the marketing mix.

Promotion is the method of communicating the key features of a product to a

target audience. The Times of India started its promotion in Chennai with a

teaser, they displayed huge billboard with caption “next change” and news

prints around it, which actually created confusion in the minds of people about

what change is going to happen.

Over a period of time they removed the caption “next change” and told

about their launch in Chennai on 14th April, The best promotional step used by

the times of India is its pricing about which we have already seen in the

previous section. The Times of India to add on to its promotional pricing also

gave free gifts to its customer which actually helps it to gain a large amount of

market share. The introduction of the subscription scheme in the English daily

industry gained popularity with the times of India subscription offers, The

customers were pretty happy to pay in advance for their subscriptions because

of the benefits offered by product.

During its launch the times of India did the following as a part of their

promotional campaign

Used more than 100 billboards to advertise about times of India

Employed over 1000 students for visiting homes

and offices to promote the product.

Made people dressed up with newsprints all

around their dress and made them campaign for

times of India

They also advertised in call taxis and vans

Installed stalls in corporate sectors to promote and sell the product

Also gave free subscriptions to corporate companies and its employees to

promote the product.

Introduced subscription schemes with free gifts (when launched )

o 6 moths subscriptions – free gift of vacuum flask

o

o

o

o

o

o

o

o

1 year subscription - free gift of a travel bag or a vacuum flask

A year after its launch the times of India wanted to revise its subscription

schemes, the company revised its price such that it was giving the offer at a

much cheaper rate than its competitors, the customer have started getting use to

the paper and thus despite no gift was offered this year about 3/4 th of the total

customers renewed the subscriptions, these were are the result of the promotions

and advertisements which were done all throughout the year.

DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL

Channel of distribution comprises a set of institutions which perform all of the

activities utilized to move a product and its title from production to

consumption.It is a trade channel covering the distance between producer and

the consumer. A marketing channel can be defined as a group of exchange of

relationships, which create customer value in acquiring consuming and

disposing of products and services.

The marketer uses distribution channels to display, sell or deliver the physical

products or services to buyers or users. They include distributors, wholesalers,

retailers and agents.The marketer also uses service channels to carry out

transaction with potential buyers. Service channel include warehouse,

transportation companies, banks and insurance companies that facilitate

transaction. Marketers clearly face a design problem in choosing the best mix of

communication, distribution and service channels for their offering.

DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL - DEFINITION AND CONSIDERATIONS:

The definition of a distribution channel was first given by Buclin

"Channel of distribution comprises a set of institutions which perform all of the

activities utilized to move a product and its title from production to

consumption". But in reality a distribution channel is not as simple as it is

presented above. Many factors must be taken into consideration and a lot of

things to be decided for a product to be moved from manufacture into the

market. First of all for successful distribution channel set up there are six basic

decisions that must be made by the marketing team beforehand. These decisions

are related to the questions that are given below.

Use of direct or indirect channels?

Use of single or multiple channels?

What will be the cumulative length of the multiple channels if those are

used?

What types of intermediaries will be used?

What will be the potential number of intermediaries if those are used?

Which companies will be used so that to avoid "inter-channel" conflict?

When all the above questions are answered then the marketing team should

select the distributor taking into account the following considerations.

Market segment: the distributor must be familiar with the target consumer

and segment.

Changes during the product life cycle: different channels can be exploited

at different points of the product's life cycle.

Producer–distributor fit: there must be a match concerning policies,

strategies and image between the producer and the distributor.

Qualification assessment: the experience and the track record of all

potential distributors must be established and assessed.

Training and support: the amount of training and support that a distributor

will require to have the job done must be taken into account.

IMPORTANCE OF DISTRIBUTION CHANNELS

As noted, distribution channels often require the assistance of others in

order for the marketer to reach its target market.  But why exactly does a

company need others to help with the distribution of their product? Wouldn’t a

company that handles its own distribution functions be in a better position to

exercise control over product sales and potentially earn higher profits? Also,

doesn’t the Internet make it much easier to distribute products thus lessening the

need for others to be involved in selling a company’s product?

While on the surface it may seem to make sense for a company to operate

its own distribution channel (i.e., handling all aspects of distribution) there are

many factors preventing companies from doing so.  While companies can do

without the assistance of certain channel members, for many marketers some

level of channel partnership is needed.  For example, marketers who are

successful without utilizing resellers to sell their product (e.g., Dell Computers

sells mostly through the Internet and not in retail stores) may still need

assistance with certain parts of the distribution process (e.g., Dell uses parcel

post shippers such as FedEx and UPS).  In Dell’s case creating their own

transportation system makes little sense given how large such a system would

need to be in order to service Dell’s customer base.  Thus, by using shipping

companies Dell is taking advantage of the benefits these services offer to Dell

and to Dell’s customers. 

CHANNEL LEVELS:

1. Intensive distribution - Where the majority of resellers stock the

'product' (with convenience products, for example, and particularly the

brand leaders in consumer goods markets) price competition may be

evident.

2. Selective distribution - This is the normal pattern (in both consumer and

industrial markets) where 'suitable' resellers stock the product.

3. Exclusive distribution - Only specially selected resellers or authorized

dealers (typically only one per geographical area) are allowed to sell the

'product'.

FUNCTIONS OF A DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL

The main function of a distribution channel is to provide a link between production and

consumption. Organizations that form any particular distribution channel perform many key

functions:

Information Gathering and distributing market research and intelligence

- important for marketing planning

Promotion Developing and spreading communications about offers

Contact Finding and communicating with prospective buyers

Matching Adjusting the offer to fit a buyer's needs, including grading,

assembling and packaging

Negotiation Reaching agreement on price and other terms of the offer

Physical

distribution

Transporting and storing goods

Financing Acquiring and using funds to cover the costs of the

distribution channel

Risk taking Assuming some commercial risks by operating the channel

All of the above functions need to be undertaken in any market. The question is

- who performs them and how many levels there need to be in the distribution

channel in order to make it cost effective.

DISTRIBUTION DECISIONS:

Distribution decisions are relevant for nearly all types of products.  While it is

easy to see how distribution decisions impact physical goods, such as laundry

detergent or truck parts, distribution is equally important for digital goods (e.g.,

television programming, downloadable music) and services (e.g., income tax

services).  In fact, while the Internet is playing a major role in changing product

distribution and is perceived to offer more opportunities for reaching customers,

online marketers still face the same distribution issues and obstacles as those

faced by offline marketers.

In order to facilitate an effective and efficient distribution system many

decisions must be made including (but certainly not limited to):

Assessing the best distribution channels for getting products to customers

Determining whether a reseller network is needed to assist in the

distribution process

Arranging a reliable ordering system that allows customers to place

orders

Creating a delivery system for transporting the product to the customer

For tangible and digital goods, establishing facilities for product storage

DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL ADOPTED BY THE TIMES OF INDIA

The distribution channel plays a key role in the newspaper industry, the

newspapers have a very short life time and hence it is highly essential to

choosing a proper distribution channel. The distribution channel adopted in the

newspaper industry is not the same as the distribution channel adopted for other

products, we have seen in the previous section how the normal products are

distributed and now let’s see the distribution pattern followed by the times of

India.

The normal distribution channel has intermediaries like wholesaler, retailer,

agent etc. But you won’t find them in the case of a distribution channel of

newspapers. The reason is that the wholesaler stocks the products for some time

and then passes the products to the next intermediary. In the case of

newspapers, if the newspapers are stored and delivered then they become

useless, as the paper reaches late to the customer and by the time paper reaches

the customer the customer will get the news from various other sources.

In this case of newspaper the channel is almost same but the process takes place

bit faster than other products, in this case the wholesaler is replaced by the

dealer and the retailer is replaced by the vendor. The papers are printed and they

are passed to the respective dealers , the dealers generally receive the

newspapers and supplements separately, the dealer after collection both the

newspapers and the supplements passes on the number of paper to each and

every vendor falling under him. The vendor receives both the news paper and

the supplements and they he has to arrange the newspapers and supplements

together, one newspaper may have n number of supplements and thus the

required supplements are to be inserted to each and veypaper given to them. The

vendors have number of beat boys bellow them how actually deliver the

newspaper to the customers.

The above process explains how the distribution channel work in a newspaper

industry. Now let’s see the pictorial representation of the distribution channel

followed in the newspaper industry.

TIMES OF INDIA PRINTING PRESS

Dealer 1 Dealer 2 Dealer 3

Depot 1 Depot 2 Depot 3 Depot 4 Depot 5 Depot 6

Vendor 1 Vendor 2 Vendor3 Vendor 4 Vendor 5 Vendor 6 Vendor 7 Vendor 8 Vendor9

Beat boysBeat boysBeat boys

Beat boysBeat boysBeat boys

Beat boysBeat boysBeat boys

Beat boysBeat boysBeat boys

Beat boysBeat boysBeat boys

Beat boysBeat boysBeat boys

Beat boysBeat boysBeat boys

Beat boysBeat boysBeat boys

Beat boysBeat boysBeat boys

The distribution process in times of India takes place on 2 phases one for the

upcountry edition and other for the city called the mid night edition, the

upcountry editions are first printed and distributed because they have to reach a

longer distance. The upcountry edition is circulated to the outskirts of Chennai

and the city edition is circulated with in Chennai. The concept is that the longest

distance gets the first printed copy and the nearest distance gets the last printed

copies.

The reporters collect the information all round the day and then they are edited

and made ready for printing, The early edition or the up country edition is

edited around 10.00pm and the printing starts at 11.00pm and the mid night

edition starts printing by 12.00am, thus the news are updated till 12.00 am for

the mid night edition.

After these papers are printed the papers are then sent to various dealers

in the city, dealers then distribute the papers to the depots or the drop points, the

vendors or hawkers in the depots insert the supplement into the main newspaper

and then they are given to the beat boys or the delivery boys who deliver the

paper to the customers in their respective houses. The entire process should end

by a maximum of 7.30 am.

Distribution process

DESCRIPTION OF THE PROJECT

The project deals with renewal of subscriptions, getting new subscription, a

study on the distribution channel adopted by The Times of India and also to

Supplements Newspaper

12.00 A.M----loading of news papers from the press

The Times of India

The Times of India

Newspaper

Supplements

DEALER 3.00 A.M REACHES THE DEALER

DEALER

SupplementsNewspaper

Depot

SupplementsNewspaper

DEALER SENDS THE PAPERS TO DEPOTS WERE THE SUPPLEMENTS ARE INSERTED TO THE NEWSPAPERS (BETWEEN 4.00 A.M TO 5.AM)

THE BEAT BOYS COLLECT THE PAPERS FROM VENDORS AND DELIVER THE PAPERS TO THE CUSTOMERS

THE TIMES OF INDIA

conduct a market survey in order to estimate the satisfaction level of the

customer.

RENEWAL OF SUBSCRIPTIONS:

The main objective of the project is to renew The Times of India

subscription in Chennai and to find out prospective new readers. The Times of

India in Chennai was launched on April 14th 2008 and as the subscription period

was about to expire the company requested us to renew the subscription and

also to find out new readers for the company.

The existing customer details available in the database was given to us

and thus the customers were called over the phone and the appointments were

fixed and then the customers were met to renew the subscriptions, during the

process the customers were enquired about the level of satisfaction and their

feedback about the paper were noted.

The subscription price of the product for 1 year was Rs.299 and a free gift

of either a travel bag or flask was provided when it was launched and now the

renewal price was fixed at just Rs.299 without any gift, as result of which many

customers refused to renew without gift, this stood as a challenging, thus we to

had explain the customers about the offer, paper cost and so on and convince

them to renew the subscription.

When the customers were met for the renewal some customers

experienced certain problems with vendors and other service related issues were

there, these issues were immediately brought to the notice of the concern person

in the organization and the issues were resolved immediately, in order to

improve the relationship between the product and the customer.

GETTING NEW SUBSCRIPTIONS:

The next challenging part of the project was to meet new customers and

get orders from them. Most of the customers in Chennai were Hindu readers, as

The Hindu is the oldest paper in Chennai and which is being published for more

than 100 years, as result of which lot of readers felt difficult to suddenly come

out The Hindu and start reading The Times of India, These customers were

made to understand the features available in The Times of India and also tried to

explain them about the cost advantage what they gain by buying The Times of

India.

Though some customers were convinced by the basic step, some weren’t.

In order to convince them free sample of the paper was given and asked them to

go through the paper and then the customer’s were meet next day to get their

opinion about the paper, this process actually fetched the customers who had no

idea about the paper.

The main idea of the company is to target the people of age group

between 15 to 40 years, the reason behind this is that, the average population

lies between this age group and thus over a period of time these customers

would be more brand loyal to the product and will stick with the product for a

longer period of time and more over its comparatively easy to attract these

audience than the other.

The marketing concept of direct marketing was used in order to identify

new subscribers. The customers were approached door by door explaining them

about the product and thus convincing them to buy the product. Stalls were also

set up on the road side on a busy street in Triplicane in order to gather the

attention of the customer and to explain them about the product.

The mails and messages were also sent to families, friends and other

groups explaining them about the offer. The customers met were also give a

small piece of pamphlet explain about the offer and thus requested them to refer

some their friends, which also helped us in getting few more customers. As a

result of all these measures i was able to book around 195 new and old

customers within a period of 2 months.

METHODOLOGY:

Methodology consists of the collection of the primary source of data

and suitable analysis of the collected data as well as the secondary data. A

questionnaire is prepared and a survey conducted with individuals and

households in northern part of Chennai. The sample size of the survey is around

250 samples, each households is treated as one unit. This survey will allow

identifying the satisfaction level of customer and the necessary thing which are

to be improved in the paper. For some data the secondary data is used, which

are collected from previous survey, internet and other articles.

Primary research:

Primary research (also called field research) involves the collection of

data that does not already exist. This can be through numerous forms, including

questionnaires and telephone interviews amongst others. This information may

be collected in things like questionnaires, magazines, and Interviews

The term is widely used in market research and competitive intelligence.

May be very expensive because many people need to be confronted.

By the time the research is complete it may be out of date.

People may have to be employed or avoid their primary duties for the

duration of the research.

People may not reply if emails or letters are used.

Secondary research:

Secondary research (also known as desk research) involves the summary,

collation and/or synthesis of existing research rather than primary research,

where data is collected from, for example, research subjects or experiments.

The term is widely used in market research and in medical research. The

principal methodology in medical secondary research is the systematic review,

commonly using meta-analytic statistical techniques, although other methods of

synthesis, like realist reviews and meta-narrative reviews, have been developed

in recent years.

ANALYSIS OF THE SURVEYA survey is conducted with the times of India customers and the results

obtained are analysed. A sample of 260 times of India customers are chosen from the northern part of Chennai, the questionnaire used for the survey is shown below

QUESTIONNAIRE

1. NAME:

2. AGE:

i. ( )16-25 ii. ( )26-35iii. ( )36-45

iv. ( )>46

3. GENDER: ( ) MALE ( ) FEMALE

4. AREA in which residence: --------------

5. EDUCATIONAL QUALIFICATION:

i. ( )10th

ii. ( )12th

iii. ( )U.Giv. ( )P.Gv. ( )others

6. OCCUPATION:

i. ( )Studentii. ( )Professionaliii. ( )Businessiv. ( )Homemakerv. ( )Others.. specify--------------------

7. INCOME:

i. ( ) <1.5 lacks

ii. ( ) 1.5 – 3 lacks

iii. ( ) 3.1 – 5 lacks

vi. ( ) >5 .1 lacks

8. Do you read any English Daily?

( ) yes ( ) no

9. what are the English daily you buy regularly?

[ ] The Times of India

[ ] The Hindu

[ ] Deccan Chronicle

[ ] New Indian Express

[ ] others..................

10. On what attribute(s) do you lay emphasis while choosing an English daily?

[ ] language

[ ] editorial

[ ] local news

[ ] international news

[ ] business news

[ ] sports news

[ ] supplements

[ ] others....................................

11. How much time do in spend reading newspaper?(in mins)

12. How do you rank the following newspapers based on their overall content? (1 indicates maximum and 4 indicates minimum)

---- The Times of India

---The Hindu

--- Deccan Chronicle

---New Indian Express

(IF YOUR ARE A TIMES OF INDIA READER ANSWER THE FOLLOWING)

13. What feature in The Times of India made you buy this paper?

[ ] content

[ ] pricing

[ ] editorial

[ ] local and international news coverage

[ ] sports coverage

[ ] othere-----------------------

14. What are the 2 things you like the most in times of India?

i.

ii.

15. What are the 2 things you think that The Times of India needs to improve?

CLASSIFICATION OF READERS ON THE BASIS OF THEIR AGE GROUP:-

Age No of readers16 to 25 yrs 12026 to 35 yrs 8536 to 45 yrs 3046 & above 25

INTERPRETATION:

The above pie- chart shows that 46% readers are from the age group 16 to

25 years which mainly includes students and working professionals and this

group can be targeted for getting more subscriptions, the chart also show that

33% of the readers are from the age group of 26 to 35 and thus comprising these

two group will give us the perfect audience to target upon.

CLASSIFICATION OF THE READERS ON THE BASIS OF THEIR

OCCUPATION

OCCUPATION RESPONDENTStudent 85Professional 105Business 35Home maker 25

Others 10

INTERPRETATION:

The above pie-chart shows the classification of the reader’s occupation, from

the graph we find that 40% of the people who have responded to the survey are

working professionals and 33% of them are students, so once again from graph

we see that the maximum readership belongs to working professionals and

students. So the company can add news catering to students and working

professionals more so that their readership in this category goes up.

CLASSIFICATION BASED ON ANNUAL INCOME

ANNUAL INCOME READERSLESS THAN 1.5 LAKHS 60

1.51 TO 3 LAKHS 913.1 TO 5 LAKHS 88

GREATER THAN 5 LAKHS 21

INTERPRETATION:

From the above chart we see that the people from the income group of 1.5 to 3

lakhs and 3 to 5 lakhs are almost the same, this is indication that the middle

income group of people prefer The Times of India, this situation might have

happened because of the low pricing strategy followed by times of India.

NEWS PAPERS BOUGHT REGULARLY BY THE CUSTOMERS

NEWSPAPERS READERS

TOI 119

TOI & TH 100

TOI & DC 34

TOI & IE 5

ALL PAPERS 2

INTERPRETATION:

The above graph shows the newspapers which are regularly purchased by the

customers, this survey is conducted with times of India customers and thus

shows the number of customers who buy only times of India and the number of

customers who buy both times of India and other English dailies together.from

the above diagram we infer that more than 50% of their customers buy only

times of India and other buy times of India along with other newspapers.

ATTRIBUTES WHICH THE CUSTOMER LAY EMPHASIS WHILE

SELECTING A NEWSPAPER

ATTRIBUTE NO. OF READERS

Language 175

Editorial 65

Local news 170

International news 90

Business news 90

Sports news 120

others 75

INTERPRETATION:

The above diagram shows that 22 % of readers expect the language used in the

news paper to be good and there is a similar percentage of people who expect

the local news in the paper to be good, the next major expectation by the readers

id to look sports news and thus they expect the sports column to be good. The

remaining set of people expect the business news and the international news in

the paper to be good. There is small propotion of people who buy newspaper for

the supplements provided with them.

LANGUAGE USED BY THE TIMES OF INDIA

CUSTOMER RATING

RESPONDENT

Excellent 81

Good 112

Average 57

Poor 10

Very poor 0

INTERPRETATION:

From the above chart it is clearly seen that there is more scope in the language

used in the TOI. Around 43% of the customer said that the language used is

GOOD. Though another 26 % of people fell the language has to improve the

majority of the sample think that the language is good and toi can continue with

it.

OVERALL PRESENTATION OF THE TIMES OF INDIA

CUSTOMER RATING RESPONDENT

Excellent 83

Good 125

Average 42

Poor 10

Very poor 0

INTERPRETATION:

From the above chart it is clearly seen that the overall presentation of TOI is

good majority of the people are satisfied with the overall presentation of the

paper. So the company can maintain the same way of presenting the news.

EDITORIAL CONTENT OF THE TIMES OF INDIA

CUSTOMER RATING

RESPONDENT

Excellent 24Good 64Average 98Poor 68Very poor 6

INTERPRETATION:

The customers fells that the editorial column in the paper is average and needs improvement, some customers felt that the overall editorial content need to increase as there is only one side in the newspaper with editorial content.

OVERALL CONTENT OF THE TIMES OF INDIA

CUSTOMER RATING RESPONDENT Excellent 35Good 150Average 65Poor 10Very poor 0

INTERPRETATION;

Majority of the customers fell that the overall content in the newspaper is good does not require any improvement while some felt that some column in the paper needs improvisation.

THINGS WHICH CUSTOMERS LIKE IN TIMES OF INDIA

THINGS RESPONDENT (in %)pricing 27Content 6Front page 16presentation 16local news 8Sports 16Supplements 8

INTERPRETATION:

When customers were asked about the two thing they like the first response

from them was the pricing and then the next option was the front page news

coverage, thus the above chart explains the customers likings in times of India.

LIMITATION:

Geographical: The study is limited to the North Zone of

Chennai, mainly Royepettah, Triplicane, Mount road,

Chintadripet and Egmore.

All the data are generally limited by the method adopted. In

the current method of data collection, questionnaire would

be limited to the extent of data generation available through

that method.

Limited time available.

Sample Size around 300.

LEARNING EXPERIENCE

Things which I have learned during my summer Internship program

• Confidence to meet people and sell any product in the market.

• Handling customers

• Customer relation and problem solving.

• Planning and time management.

• Need for innovative ideas to sell the product.

CONCLUSION AND RECOMENDATION:This project reveals the distribution and various aspects of The Times of

India, from the survey we found that the times of India is good in its language, presentation and pretty good with its content however the editorial column and the service of the paper has to improve. Some customers are not happy with the service provided by the times of India due to vendor related issues. Though the company has an excellent CRM system the customers are not aware of the process. So the customers need to be made aware of the customer service available.

THE END